State Game and Fish biologist Ben Wise says more than 500 animals were tested this past year, compared to about 275 a year in the previous five years.

Wise says Game and Fish was able to double its manpower surveying for chronic wasting disease in the region.

Chronic wasting disease is invariably fatal in the elk, deer, moose and caribou. It has been detected only twice in the Jackson region, although never in elk. But it is spreading steadily toward the Continental Divide on the east side of Jackson Hole.